MAP31: In The Void (Doom 64)

MAP31: In The Void is a secret level in Doom 64, designed by Tim Heydelaar. The level itself is set inside a massive demon infested void. The level itself is traveling across large bridges and void tunnels while fighting many pain elementals, spectres, barons & Hell knights, the level also contains the third and final blue demon key. It uses the music track "Blood Red Shadows", also heard in level 17, Watch Your Step. This level is accessible from.

Essentials
Player begins in an open "killing ground" laden with monster guts and carcasses, and where several wooden cross-like structures of varying height are placed and adorned with used, bloody instruments of torture and slaughter. Immediately a few spectres charge at the player along with a Hell knight launching fireballs from a niche in a far wall. After dispatching all initial monsters, including a couple of mancubi near the location of the yellow skull key, the player will then have to cross a series of bridges suspended over the eerie, gloomy, foggy void. The bridges are infested with spectres and barons of Hell from afar launching fireballs at you, along with pain elementals lurking about. The bridges are interconnected via a network of teleporters which the player will have to make extensive use of to traverse the map.

The player eventually comes to a building that has four rooms laden with lost souls, Hell knights, and a baron, and once all those monsters are dispatched, the player can collect the red skull key and head for the red door, dispatching all new monsters that appear on the bridges along the way. Upon opening the red door and after dispatching the baron that blocks your path, the bridge takes you to a teleporter which brings you to a very remote section of the map. Several barons and a couple of mancubi will appear and attack you. After all monsters are dispatched, the player can collect the blue skull key at the far end.

The player then has to go all the way back to the building where he got the red skull key, but this time it's to head through the open wooden plank tunnel that leads to another room where the cyan Demon Key is held. There will be a few lost souls to dispatch, and since the player has the blue skull key at this point, he can activate the switch to the left with the two blue pylons. This finally gives the player access to the yellow skull key located near the "killing ground" by activating the stairs where the first Hell knight was encountered.

The yellow skull key allows the player to unlock the open ended bridge that branches off the main bridge network and dive into the void to end the map.

Official
There are no official secrets on this map.

Non-official
To obtain the blue Demon Key, the player has to play through the map as normal; however, after unlocking the open ended bridge to the map exit, while crossing the bridge, the map will shake very briefly. This is an indication that a switch has appeared in front of the block in which the blue Demon Key rests and the player will have to head back to that area to activate it. Upon doing so, the Demon Key will vanish, and it reappears at the end of the wooden plank tunnel located in the remote portion of the map using the spot where the blue skull key was found, which has slightly risen out of the ground and now acts as a step for the player to enter the wooden plank tunnel and collect the blue Demon Key before it disappears and returns back to its original resting place.

Upon collecting the Key, a horde of pain elementals and barons will appear, which the player will have to fight through as he makes his way towards the exit. To obtain 100% everything will require the player to dispatch all monsters, which will be challenging at this point in the map. Use of the Unmaker is recommended provided there is ammunition available for it. If not, the chaingun will at least keep the lost souls off the player.

Routes and tricks
Use the mesh window in the "killing ground" as a barrier to pick off the first couple of pain elementals lurking just outside. They cannot pass through the window, but the projectiles from your weapons can, making it a one-sided fight in your favor.

When you first get to the remote area to collect the blue skull key, and the horde of mancubi and barons appear and attack, use the infighting trick by quickly running past them so the barons projectile fireballs will hit the mancubi and they will engage each other instead of you. Just stand and watch until they thin their own numbers out, and then you can pick off whoever is left.

Save as much energy ammo throughout playing the map as possible for the last horde after collecting the cyan demon key. If you collect the key, it will trigger the appearance of several pain elementals throughout the map who will all converge on your position unleashing lost souls by the droves on you. If you collected the previous two demon keys from map 29 and map 30 respectively, the addition of the third and final key will unlock the full potential of the Unmaker, which will allow you to almost instantaneously vaporize this final onslaught of pain elementals.

Being as powerful as it is with all three demon keys, the Unmaker will go through energy ammo very quickly, so it is advised to fire in bursts when possible to conserve energy ammunition, which can be scarce in many maps.

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level: